the representation was again enlarged to ninety members, elected under a very liberal franchise.'

The legislature of Quebec consists of a lieutenantgovernor, a legislative council, and a legislative assembly. The legislative council comprises twenty-four members, appointed for life by the lieutenant-governor in the Queen's name, and representing the same electoral districts from which senators are chosen. The qualifications of the legislative councillors of Quebec are the same as those of the senators from the province.3 The legislative assembly is composed of sixty-five members, elected for the same electoral districts represented by the members of the House of Com mons for the province.1 It is provided in the act that while it is always perfectly competent for the legislature of Quebec to alter these districts, it can only change the limits of certain constituencies, especially mentioned, with the concurrence of the majority of the members representing all those electoral divisions.5 The legislative assembly in each province is summoned by the lieutenant-governor in the

1 48 Vict., c. 2., Manhood suffrage qualified by residence. 2 Leg. Ass. J. (1866) 363; B. N. A. Act, 1867, s. 71, 72 and s. 22, subs. 3. Cons. Stat. of Canada, c. 1, Sch. A.

3 B. N. A. Act, ss. 73 and 23.

Ss. 80 and 40; Doutre, p. 85.

5 These districts are Pontiac, Ottawa, Argenteuil, Huntingdon, Missisquoi, Brome, Shefford, Stanstead, Compton, Wolfe and Richmond, Megantic, town of Sherbrooke. Second Sched. B. N. A. Act, 1867. In these districts there is a large English-speaking and Protestant population, and it was considered expedient to insert this proviso securing its rights; but the provision was opposed in the legislature, in 1866, as unnecessary. Turcotte, II., 590.

Queen's name. It has a constitutional existence of four years in Ontario,1 and of five years in Quebec,2 subject to being dissolved at any time by the same authority that calls them together. A session must be held once at least in every year, 66 so that twelve months shall not intervene between the last sitting of the legislature in each province in one session and its first sitting in the next session." The provisions in the act respecting election and duties of speaker, quorum, and mode of voting, in the House of Commons, also apply to the legislative assemblies of the provinces in question.

By

1 The Ont. Stat., 42 Vict., (1879), c. 4, s. 3, provides that every legislature of Ontario shall continue for four years from the 55th day after the date of the writs for the election and no longer; that in case a meeting of the legislature is necessary before the election for Algoma has taken place, the member elected for that district at the previous election shall represent the same until the new election therefor has been held and the return made in due form; that in such case the duration of the new assembly shall be for four years from the day for which the assembly shall be summoned to meet for the discharge of business and no longer, subject to being sooner dissolved by the lieutenantgovernor. This provision was made to meet a constitutional question that had arisen as to the exact duration of the legislature-whether it could not last for four years from the date of the return for Algoma, which is much later than for the rest of the province. See Canadian Monthly, April, 1879, and Parl. Deb. of Ontario, 1879, as the curious controversy that arose on this constitutional point. In 1885 this act was amended (Ont. Rev. Stat. c. 11,) by dividing Algoma into two electoral districts.

2 Extended from four to five years, in 1881, by the legislature of Quebec, in accordance with subs. 1, s. 92 of B. N. A. Act; 44– 45 Vict., c. 7.

3 Sec. 86.

+ Sec. 87.

an act passed in 1882, the speaker of the legislative council of Quebec remains in office during the legislature to which he has been nominated by the lieutenantgovernor, and may not be a member of the executive council of the province.1

2

The Act of 1867 provides that the constitution of the executive authority as well as of the legislatures of the provinces of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick shall continue as it existed at the time of the union until altered under the authority of that act. These two colonies. had, for very many years, enjoyed the advantages of representative institutions as liberal in all respects as those of the larger provinces of Canada. Under the French regime, and for some time after their conquest by the English, these provinces were comprised in the large, ill-defined territory known as Acadia. From 1713 to 1758 the provincial government consisted of a

1 Quebec Stat. 45 Vic., c. 3.

2 B.N.A. Act, ss. 64, 88. The power of amendment so conferred, has not been exercised in Nova Scotia-Gov. Archibald. Can. 1883, No. 70, p. 11.

9 Nova Scotia was formally ceded to England by the Treaty of Utrecht, 11 April, 1713; but Cape Breton still remained a possession of France until the conquest of Canada, and the subsequent Treaty of Paris, which gave to Great Britain all the French possessions in British North America except the islands of St. Pierre, Miquelon and Langley on the coast of Newfoundland, reserved for carrying on the fisheries. The Island of Cape Breton was under the government of Nova Scotia from 1766 to 1784, when it was given a separate government, consisting of a lieutenant-governor and council. This constitution remained in force until the re-annexation of the island to Nova Scotia in 1820. Can. Sess. P., 1883, No. 70, p. 10.

governor or lieutenant-governor and a council supposed to possess both legislative and executive powers. Tho constitution of Nova Scotia has always been considered

as derived from the terms of the royal commissions to the governors and lieutenant-governors, and from the instructions accompanying the same, moulded from time to time by despatches from secretaries of state, conveying the will of the sovereign, and by acts of the local legislature, assented to by the Crown: the whole to some extent interpreted by uniform usage and custom in the colony." A legislative assembly met for the first time at Halifax' on the 2nd of October, 1758, and consisted of twenty-two members. It is interesting to note in this. connection that the assembly promptly asserted the privileges of free speech, when a member's remarks had been called into question, by declaring that "what he had said was as a member of the assembly, and that he was only accountable to them for what he had said." In the same session a person was committed to the custody of one of the messengers of the house for having assaulted a member on his way from the assembly.*

In 1838 the executive authority was separated from the legislative council, which became a distinct legisla tive branch only. In 1840, a practical recognition was

1 Governor Archibald, in an interesting memorandum on the early constitution of Nova Scotia, in answer to an address of parliament. Can. Sess. P. 1883, No. 70, pp. 7-11.

2 Annapolis (Port Royal under the French régime) was the seat of government until 1749, when Halifax was founded. Murdoch's Hist., II. c. 11.

Can. Sess. P. 1883, No. 70, pp. 8, 39.

given for the first time to the principle of responsible government, in the formation of the executive council, but in reality the system was not fully adopted until 1848.1 In 1867, before the Act of Union came into force, the legislature of Nova Scotia passed an act limiting the number of members in the assembly to thirty-eight,' and at the same time an address was proposed to limit the number of legislative councillors to eighteen.3 The number now is twenty-one.

In 1784 the province of New Brunswick, which had received large accessions of loyalists from the United States, was formally created, and a government estab lished, consisting of a council of twelve members, having both executive and legislative functions, and of an assembly of twenty-six members; but in 1832 it was deemed expedient to follow the example of Nova Scotia and have the executive authority quit distinct from the legisla

4

1 Howe's Speeches and Letters vol. I, pp. 553, 562-4; Todd, 60; Eng. Com. P. 1847-8, vol. 42, pp. 51-88.

2 Nova S. Stat., 30 Vict., c. 2; Rev. Stat. (5th series) c. 3. For vacating of seats, Ib. c. 3. Duration of and representation in general assembly, c. 3. Executive and legislative disabilities, c. 3.

3 Jour. Ass. (1867) 28. Efforts have been made in the Nova Scotia assembly to abolish the legislative council as in Ontario, but so far fruitlessly on account of the opposition in the latter body. An. Reg. (1879) 179-80. See Rev. Stat. (4th ser.) c. 2.

* The first governor was Colonel T. Carleton, brother of Lord Dorchester. The government was frequently administered by presidents of the executive council, and by military chiefs. See copy of the commission of governor, giving him power to appoint a council, create courts, and call an assembly, etc. Can. Sess. P. 1883, No. 70, p. 47.